H&M Makes a ‘Brilliant’ Move and Embraces the Curves

H&M, ripped in recent years for using ridiculously-dainty and overly-tan models to sell bikinis, appears to be moving in a slightly different direction when it comes to the 2013 “Beachwear” collection.

The Swedish clothing giant subtly released its U.S. Beachwear collection online recently, and the most prominent ads for the portfolio feature a model who isn’t the size of a twig. Jenny Runk, a curvy 24-year-old model, wears a collection of swimsuits, cover-ups, sundresses and shorts.

H&M

Ms. Runk, a Ford model considered by some to be a plus-size model, is known for being outspoken about the need for marketers to back off the distinction between body types. In an email sent to The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, Ms. Runk applauded H&M’s move to simply brand their new sea-going product line as Beachwear (with no obvious distinctions to size) as being “brilliant.”

“I hope to see more companies doing this in the future,” Ms. Runk said. “I’m not just talking about blurring the line between our silly size categories either, I would love to see more of every kind of woman represented equally in fashion and advertising.“

Ms. Runk has been a model since she was 14, but decided to stop dieting and gained 20 pounds. She has thrived in an industry where leggy, super skinny models are often held up as the most admired norm.

According to the British Association of Model Agents (AMA), a regular female model should have a waist measurement of 24 inches, and a bust and hip measurement of 34 inches. This equals the measurements of a U.S. size zero.

H&M, known for its cheap and chic product line, has taken heat in the bathing suit business in recent years. Earlier in the decade, the company was criticized by advertising watchdogs for creating ads that used models who were deemed to be too thin and portrayed women as sex objects. The same agency also ripped the company for encouraging potential customers to pursue an unhealthy tan.

The Swedish retailer, however, isn’t entirely out of the business of labeling body types. Although Ms. Runk’s figure is front and center on the U.S. website, the company calls the fashion line she is showing off the H&M+ line. And, it only comes in U.S. sizes of 14 to 24.

Jenna Sauers, a writer on the Jezebel women’s lifestyle blog, applauded the move in a post Monday. “Seeing plus-size bodies in fashion spreads and ads should be as common as seeing anything else,” Ms. Sauers, a former model turned blogger, wrote.

H&M’s plus size model Ms. Runk believes that the campaign is one of the first signs of a changing industry. “It’s like we’re finally saying, we’re sorry we did this, we’re going to stop now,” she said.

[...] I also really like is that they use this curvy model too. Isn’t she [...]

5:29 pm May 1, 2013

john,c wrote:

I really think H&M is going in right direction.many men in the U.S. love women, who are soft. it give us comfort.women who are skin & bones just not that soft.soft matters,bones hurt.

4:57 pm May 1, 2013

D.Show wrote:

What is often left out of this debate is the why. Ultimately, the designer usually picks the models, and in the world of fashion, especially in the last several decades, that meant gay men. Thus, those designers were choosing women based upon body types that resembled their taste preferences rather than a body type that is natural to women. Tall, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, and low body fat is much more a man's body type than a woman's, but a man's shape is what gay men prefer. The tastes of men in the western world have been manipulated by the image of men who like men, not women. Women are supposed to have fat, its a critical component of their biological functions. They need to have fat in their diets to regulate those hormones effectively and ensure delivery of those hormones to their cells. Its only the west that seems to ignore these qualities, the rest of the world is more than happy to take women as they are and ought to be--soft and squishy.